Brazil prepares for another month of political battle as run-off looms at polls
The two candidates campaigning for President Michel Temer have been vying for the position since April, with the final race set to go down to the wire as Brazil prepares for the run-off in the Oct. 7 election.
By KAULANI BOMANU|
T
he two candidates campaigning for President Michel Temer have been vying for the position since April, with the final race set to go down to the wire as Brazil prepares for the run-off in the Oct. 7 election.
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ut in the two-candidate race for the Oct. 7 election, former president and Senate minority leader Aécio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democracy party (PSDB) has maintained his lead by securing the second spot, with former deputy and president Dilma Rousseff of the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) just behind him. The two will face off in a second round of voting on Oct. 28.
The two have been in campaign mode for the last two months, and the third and fourth, fifth and six positions are just as hotly contested. With most polls showing Rousseff in second, Temer has been the top candidate, followed by Neves and then Bolsonaro, the former army general who has made waves since his election as governor of Rio de Janeiro last year.
The race has seen a huge debate on political capital versus popularity, the country’s new constitution, and the role of Brazil’s judiciary in the election.
“I think most of the candidates have become more popular after the election,” said Jorge Luiz Vena-Aguiar, a political sciences professor at the International School in Sao Paulo. “The most popular candidate is Temer. The polls indicate that Neves would have had a stronger run. But Temer’s economic recovery has helped him to build more support.”
Temer’s victory would be welcomed by many Latin America leaders, who believe he is an experienced centrist who would steer the country out of the crisis and back onto a sound fiscal path. But others, like Brazilian analyst Luiz Fernando Souto de Moura of the Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros (Brazil Institute), is more concerned Temer is too inexperienced to be president.
“He has had no political experience since